Katchatheevu: Tiny Sri Lankan island sparks political row in India - BBC News

India's ruling party has accused the opposition of "callously" giving away rights to Katchatheevu in 1974.

5 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Prabhurao/BBCImage caption, Katchatheevu island does not have potable water and is hence uninhabitedBy Nikhila HenryBBC News, DelhiA small, uninhabited island that is part of Sri Lanka has sparked a political row in India weeks before general elections kick off.

Katchatheevu - a strip of land spanning just about 1.9 sq km (0.7 sq miles) - is located in the Palk Strait, a stretch of ocean which divides India and Sri Lanka. It lies to the northeast to Rameswaram town in India's Tamil Nadu state and to the southwest of Sri Lanka's Jaffna city.

The island has no source of drinking water and the only structure on it is a church which holds an annual three-day festival that draws devotees from both India and Sri Lanka.

Since 1921, rulers in both India and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) - British colonies at the time - had staked claim to fishing rights in the waters around Katchatheevu. But in 1974, India ended the dispute by relinquishing any claim over the island; two years later, India and Sri Lanka signed an agreement that prevented people from both countries from fishing in waters belonging to each other.

Now, that decades-old decision is in the headlines again after India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the country's opposition Congress party - which was in power at the time - of "callously" giving away the island to Sri Lanka. The Congress has reacted sharply, accusing Mr Modi of raking up the issue ahead of elections due to "desperation".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68707161

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